Large scale quantification of natural killer cell-induced apoptosis in patient-derived organoids reveals intratumoral response heterogeneity
Abstract
Intratumoral heterogeneity drives immunotherapy resistance, hindering clinical efficacy. Functional assays that capture heterogeneous responses to immunotherapies remain limited. Here, we present a 3D live imaging assay using patient-derived ovarian cancer organoids to quantify natural killer (NK) cell-induced apoptosis across hundreds of individual organoids. Our assay reveals inter- and intratumor response heterogeneity and detects rare populations unresponsive to NK cytotoxicity, enabling the study of subclonal immune responses and underlying mechanisms.
Mercadante, M., Scheben, A., Estrada, J. et al. Large scale quantification of natural killer cell-induced apoptosis in patient-derived organoids reveals intratumoral response heterogeneity. npj Precis. Onc. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41698-025-01251-7
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